Hub Staff

Bruce County Playhouse and Performing Arts of Saugeen Shores (PASS) have a home at the Southampton Town Hall for the 2016 season, a fitting place situated in the 'Gateway to the Arts'.

The agreement was passed during the January 25 Committee of a Whole meeting. The group will take up residence from March 26 to August 31, 2016, with the exception of Thursday evenings and some other blacked out dates.

“We’re getting a home,” said Bruce County Playhouse Artistic Director, Natalie Robitaille with reverence after the agreement passed. “If you have a show to do or a play it’s hard to find a theatre space with seating and lighting that’s all there,” she continued.

“If we have one place that everyone can go to, then the theatre arts community can just thrive and hopefully it will bring business to the community as well.” Robitaille added that people coming to town for a show “won’t just see the show, they’ll maybe go to a restaurant first or do some shopping.”

The theatre companies have agreed to pay the Town the sum of $126.30 plus tax per three rehearsal dates; $126.30 per unlicensed performance date and $142.26 per licensed performance date, which was cause for concern for Vice Deputy Mayor, Diane Huber. Huber stated this was not a “good deal” for the theatre companies.

“I would encourage that we actually pay close attention to the actual cost to us for having the building open in the summer,” Huber said. She reminded council that Saugeen Shores Minor Hockey and the Saugeen Shores Skating Club recently asked council for reduced ice fees, upon their already subsidized contribution from the Town and said the agreement with Bruce Country Playhouse showed no leeway or benefits for the theatre groups.

“When this thing is a big success we should look forward to a much better agreement in the future,” Huber said.

Mayor Mike Smith was happy with the news and reminisced about his time acting in the Bruce County Playhouse play Kitchen Witches this past summer.

“I hope they have great success up there because this is something that the Town Hall was originally designed for. I think it could be a very important artistic hub. You know if there is something artistic going on in this community you know to go to the Town Hall,” Smith said.

Robitallie has 15 years’ experience in directing and acting and future plans of a youth theatre company aimed at ages 8 to 16. “To have the same experience that a professional actor would have, in the sense that it would be a month long camp, so they would audition and get their role and rehearse all day and at the end of the months they would have three nights of performances,” said Robitallie.

Bruce County Playhouse already has an exciting season planned. Every month they hope to feature a Sunday Showcase, where local performers can perform anything from storytelling to singing to standup comedy.

The next Sunday Showcase will be February 28.

Then in March there will be a Meet the Princess event and the company will feature two plays this summer; The Love List, by Canadian playwright Norm Foster from July 8 to 23 and Shirley Valentine from August 5 to 14.

For more information about Bruce County Playhouse, visit brucecountyplahouse.com.